daycare expensive

Having just 1 child can incur a lot of expenses. I can't imagine what it must be like for families having more than 1. I received our receipt for daycare ending 31 March 2009 and we had paid around $9,300 from when he started in mid July last year.

Wow. That used to form a good chunk of our savings back when we were just a couple.

I can't wait for when he turns 3 so that we can get 20 hours free - subsidised by the government - when he starts nursery until he goes to primary. A coworker of mine whose son started primary school last year (he turned 5) said that he didn't know what to do with the extra money. They lived without the daycare money for 5 years and getting that back excited him. I'm sure they are saving that extra money now. Although I think of that money ($424/fortnight), I also cherish the next 4 years of having our child grow up giving joy to our lives. When I see things from that perspective, it becomes alright to spend that for now. When he goes to school I'm sure there will be new, and possibly more pricey, stuff to pay for.

But then, when we didn't have a child yet we were more relaxed to spend on entertainment such as going to movies, shows, events. We were also inclined to try different restaurants to have dinner at. We were not really skimping on ourselves and the budget was relaxed.

I find myself missing out on fun being childless brings, like making a quick decision to have drinks after work or going places for quick weekend getaways. I know that when our child's big enough to stay out past 7pm we can go back to doing some of those things in moderation. Now that I strictly monitor every cent that comes out of our pockets, I don't think I can ever really go back to living a laid-back lifestyle not worrying about anything but myself.

Having children is truly life changing. Even my mom raves about how responsible I am now. Ha! It's more like needing to step up and be responsible.